Kopf einer Frau mit Hut sowie eine - bei Drehung des Papiers um 180 Grad gezeichnete - schematische Fratze 1917

Max Beckmann made this drawing, ‘Kopf einer Frau mit Hut sowie eine - bei Drehung des Papiers um 180 Grad gezeichnete - schematische Fratze’ with graphite, maybe in the early part of the twentieth century. It’s all scratchy lines, loose and quick, and the hat looks kind of like a weird crown. You can see the artist trying to find the form, feeling around with the pencil, like a sculptor uses clay. I wonder if he was sitting in a café, doodling and watching people, sketching whatever caught his eye. Maybe he was playing around, just letting his hand move without thinking too much, discovering the image as he went. There’s a kind of freedom in that, a willingness to let go and see what happens. That reminds me of other artists like Picasso and Kirchner, all of them riffing off each other, pushing the boundaries of what drawing and painting could be. It’s like they’re having a conversation across time.